In this episode of The Design Your Thinking Podcast, I talk to Shreya Thakkar who is an entrepreneur and bag designer who runs StruT, a fashion brand that designs bags and footwear. This was one of the first episodes I recorded for Season 2.

Who is Shreya Thakkar?

Here’s how Shreya Thakkar introduces herself: “I have done my MBA in finance from K.J.Somaiya Institute of Management Studies and Research. Post the studies I had worked as a Wealth Manager and then later as a Research Analyst. But over a period of time, I found that it was not of my interest and so, decided to quit my job and start something of my own and that’s how StruT was born.

An urge to ideate about your creation, to not to follow a 9-5 ritual, to be your own boss, and to do something different made me start my own venture and shuffled the letters of my life from Finance to Fashion. Apart from this, I run half marathons and aspire to do a triathlon one day.

Why Should You Listen to Shreya?

There are plenty of reasons why you should listen to Shreya. Let me give the top 3:

1. She is someone a lot of us can relate to – she did a bachelor’s degree and then an MBA thinking that a high-paying job is what defines a career.
2. Shreya describes the way she learned a completely new industry as a 23-year old (she is now 26, and runs a profitable business).
3. She shares the quips, learnings, and her approach to growing her fashion brand as a bag designer.

What Does She Talk about in this Interview?

1. Her childhood and the influence of her parents on her thinking.
2. The conversation with her boss and colleagues when she quit her high-paying job.
3. How she experimented with an idea?
4. The story of a failure that she encountered early on in her new role as a bag designer.
5. How she scaled the idea from just an idea to a profitable business?
6. Shreya answers audience questions.

How Can You Listen?

Shreya’s interview is available in audio. Here’s a direct link to the audio:

How to Get In Touch with Shreya?

Instagram: @letstrut

Facebook: @letstrut

The episode is Supported By

I’d like to give a quick shout out to Thrive Themes. Thrive Architect by Thrive Themes is what I use to build this website. Do try Thrive Membership if you’d like to build a website like mine with zero technical help. I’m happy to share all the templates I’ve created, should you choose to give Thrive Membership a try. You can head over to designyourthinking.com/thrive.

Do signup for Thrive Membership and drop me a note at hello at design your thinking dot com to get access to the templates. You also get my detailed guide to create the most important pages on your website along with the templates.

You can find more useful resources for audio/video creation or editing and much more on my Resources page.

Read the Manifesto

Season 2 of The Design Your Thinking Podcast is inspired by the DYT Manifesto. Do download a copy of the manifesto here (no email required).